


I Felt It

by pencilguin



Series: Fictober 2018 [20]
Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-30 00:25:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17213675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pencilguin/pseuds/pencilguin
Summary: [Spoilers for season 1] Keyla and Joann are having a conversation about their new captain, who seems like a ghost from Keyla's past.





	I Felt It

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on Tumblr as part of the Fictober 2018 challenge. Unbeta'd; I apologize for any mistakes that might still be in there. 
> 
> Sorry it's not very shippy. But I hope we'll be seeing more of that next season ...

They sat down across from each other and put their trays on the table. While Keyla started digging her fork into her pasta, Joann addressed her.

“So … you said something earlier today. Something about Captain Georgiou. What … what did you mean by that?”

It took a moment for Keyla to respond.

“You’ve never met her before Admiral Cornwell introduced her, right?” she asked, observing Joann over her lunch plate, who nodded. “What did you think of her?”

“She’s … different from what I expected,” Joann said slowly. “Both from what I’d learned from the official records, and … from you. The little things and anecdotes you mentioned here and there.” She glanced at Keyla, who was still watching her while taking another bite of pasta. “She seemed … odd.” For a moment she hesitated, carefully choosing her words. “I thought she would be kinder.”

Keyla looked down at her plate.

“Yeah …”

“You’ve know her for years,” Joann said.

“Yes.”

“So …?”

“Something’s not right about her. I’m certain of it.”

“What do you mean?” Joann asked carefully.

Keyla was staring off into the distance, her fork with pasta on it hanging abandoned in the air.

“I don’t know who this is, or how it’s possible. But this isn’t the Captain Georgiou I know. It’s not her. It can’t be her.”

Joann just kept looking at her, unsure what to say. This sounded wild and ridiculous; except they _had_ just left a parallel universe full of evil versions of themselves, where a different Georgiou ruled a fascist human empire.

“Do you remember what it was like to serve under Captain Lorca?” Now she looked up at Joann again. “How everything about him was just that bit off? You told me, one night, that you couldn’t believe someone like him was a Starfleet captain. Maybe it was my time on the Shenzhou directly before that, but it always seemed to me like he was the error in the picture. He couldn’t be for real. And when the truth about him was revealed, it was like I had _known_ all along. I felt it. You know what I mean.”

“Yeah. Maybe it’s because you have more experience to draw from than me. I was just confused. And despite everything, the fact that he had been from the other universe all along was hard to believe.”

“But,” Keyla said slowly, “now I’m experiencing the exact same thing again with Georgiou. Only ten times stronger.”

“But you don’t have any evidence?”

She looked down at her plate again.

“No, of course not.”

Joann put her hand on Keyla’s on the table to comfort her.

“But they must know about it. Cornwell, Sarek, Saru—maybe Burnham …” Keyla said after a while. “Why are they lying to us?”

Joann thought about it.

“It makes sense to keep her true identity a secret from Starfleet’s point of view. Our whole trip to the other universe, probably. They should have been honest with us at least, though. Maybe they think it’ll be bad for crew morale. Only very few of the Shenzhou crew are here, after all.”

Keyla nodded.

“No-one but me, Saru, and Burnham, on the bridge.” She sighed. “They could at least have told me the truth. Captain Georgiou meant a lot to me, too.”

Joann pulled her hand close and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.

“I’m sorry you have to go through this. Maybe you can ask Burnham what she knows about it in private the next time.”

A small smile appeared on Keyla’s face.

“I will.” She wrapped her other hand around Joann’s. “Thank you, love.”


End file.
